Peay Vineyards Estate Pinot Noir 2007
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Winemaker Notes
The mouth is round, smooth and full-bodied. The tannins are soft, though present, and support aromas of bright cherry, chocolate, sandalwood and forest floor. There is a touch of anise seed on a very long—minutes long—cherry finish. Though the Estate Pinot noir is richer than Pomarium, the acidity is quite good and the elegance of Pinot noir made from our vineyard is evident.
Peay Vineyards is a first-generation family winery. Husband and wife, Nick Peay & Vanessa Wong, grow and make the wine and brother, Andy Peay, and his wife Ami, sell the wine and run the business.
All wines are made from grapes grown on our 53-acre estate vineyard located above a river gorge in the far northwestern corner of the Sonoma Coast, 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean at Sea Ranch. We sit in the chilly inversion layer with fog and wind from the Ocean maintaining cool temperatures with plenty of sunlight.
Winemaker Vanessa Wong left her position as winemaker at Peter Michael Winery in 2001 to launch Peay Vineyards. Formerly she worked at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Domaine Jean Gros and Hirsch Winery.
We farm organically and maintain our licenses for fish friendly farming and integrated pest management. The health of our vineyard dictates these approaches to farming and making wine. We also run on bio-diesel at the vineyard and solar power at both the vineyard and winery.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.